Or…That One Time Someone Told Me To Off Myself.
I’ve mentioned before that I just adore Tyler Oakley. I stumbled upon him first doing work for the Trevor Project (which is near and dear to my heart) and have watched him on YouTube ever since. I’m very proud of everything he’s done in almost a maternal way, but I also think he’s just hysterical and a cutie-pie and he makes me smile. WARNING: He is not usually safe for work. He’s a bit profane and tends to make a lot of sexual comments. BUT! There’s nothing wrong with that! I mean, I’m a damn prude – but I’m glad not everyone is.
But MAN! Do NOT click on his replies on twitter which I catch a glance at periodically if I click “expand” under any of his tweets. There are SUCH MEAN PEOPLE out there. They are constantly telling him to kill himself, that they hope he dies, and other such niceties – usually laden with HORRID profanity. He has a lot of love and supporters too, but JEEZUS – his haters are just EVIL.
The last few days he’s even tweeted a little bit about it and it makes me really sad. He’s such a joy and a light to the young gay community, it hurts my heart to see him take the negativity too much to heart.
BUT THEN. I made a VERY simple point on Twitter about how A&E suspending that guy from Duck Dynasty is not really a “freedom of speech” issue. I simply uploaded a graphic stating that it’s a capitalism issue. Not a civil liberties one.
I wasn’t even supporting the LBGT community, WHICH I DO SUPPORT WHOLEHEARTEDLY. I was simply pointing out the difference in “censorship” and “business”. And look what I got in return.
DUDE. That totally upset me! So, while I fully support my original tweet/graphic, I took it down because I can NOT handle that type of negativity in my life.
To which my oldest (also a huge Tyler Oakley fan) said, “MOM! Don’t take it down! Tyler Oakley gets told to kill himself all the time. STAND UP FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE.”
But I’m not as strong as Tyler Oakley. I can’t handle it. I will stand by my support of the LGBT community over here on my safe little blog, and even on Facebook where my family can unfriend me if they don’t agree. Hell…I’ll even post my Love For Marriage Equality all over Twitter and I’ll wear rainbows and equal signs until I die.
But I will not ever comment on Duck Dynasty again. JEEBUS.
(P.S. Everyone should go give Tyler a hug on Twitter. He is a great voice and he’s funny and smart and is giving gay teens everywhere a strong role model. He needs our support.)
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You may want to look at the spelling and grammar of Mr. Michael Powers. Hard to take him seriously when he can’t spell ‘and’ and used ‘your’ instead of ‘you’re’.
I am sorry, I couldn’t see past the improper use of “your” and this mysterious word that I have never heard of…was that supposed to be “and?”
I HATE when people don’t like me, so that would have definitely been hurtful to me. Sorry that you were a victim of some cyber-bullying.
Did you know you can report posts like that to Twitter and have them removed? And of course you can block the person. I know neither of those steps protects you from further abuse from others (and I can see why you would take down the post to prevent that) but it seems rather unfair to have to take down your post when he’s the offensive troll.
don’t let the haters get you down. A friend of mine (and former GHS student) posted this on facebook, which addresses the issue pretty well:
“I don’t think this Duck Dynasty thing is about an attack on Christianity or Freedom of Speech. Let’s take a portion of what Phil Robertson said and make it about race instead of sexual preference:
“It seems like, to me, a white vagina—as a white man—would be more desirable than a black vagina. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.”
Intolerance transcends subject matter.”
He is obviously a REAL mental giant, unable to spell a hard word like “and” and not using the proper form of “you’re.” Is there a way to just delete his comment, or does not allow that? Anyway, keep standing up for what you believe in. The people who count will support you!
Man, I hate when people shout ” freedom of speech!” about stuff like this. Talk to me when the US Government pulls him off his tv show.
Sorry about the whackadoo.
I am sorry that happened to you. You know you have all the love and support from your family and your fans here on your blog.
I could not take this jerk seriously either, with his bad spelling and his improper grammar.
I am sad because my family enjoyed watching duck dynasty. That said, A&E has to do what they have to do. I do however kind of wish that we quit giving people the platform to say this kind of crap. If we never showed westboro baptist church on the air, would they still picket? I’ve often wondered. I also wonder why we even ask a 67+ year old conservative christian man about his beliefs. Who benefits? The magazine I guess. I just don’t see a lot of good in publishing that kind of thing. I have relatives who believe just like he does, so I choose not to engage in these conversations with them. I hope that time, or experience they have a change of heart, but if they don’t, I’ll work on doing my part with MY next generation.
Jesus. First, just as a matter of constitutional law, you are absolutely right. Whether you think A&E should pull him off air or not, until A&E becomes part of the government this is not a free speech issue. Second, I can not think of anything anyone has said ever that made me even think they should die, much less say it – and to them no less. What the heck could someone be saying in a generalized tweet that would be worth that? Even if they were spewing the most misogynistic, racist, bigoted (insert your adjectives of choice here) tweets ever – can’t you just not read them? It’s pretty easy, really. I myself read no tweets at all.
I just want to thank you for not just saying Christian. So many do, and while I understand why it happens I always wince. There are lots and lots of us Christians out here who fervently support LGBT rights. The profile he fits (and therefore the likelihood that he’d hold these beliefs) is much narrower than just Christian.
Why is it that the bigots and trolls can never spell? Did they spend their entire education sitting in the corner wearing a Dunce Cap?
I am right there in that “camp” too… and I’m Catholic so I understand about being unfairly categorized!
that made me laugh… lets pretend they did!